The HORRORS Of The Nuremberg Executions JJ

At the end of World War II, the Allies had a big decision on their hands. What would they do with the remaining members of the enemy government? And how could they execute them in the most legal way possible? It was obvious at the end of the war that these men had conducted horrific crimes against humanity, and their actions had led to the deaths of millions of people all across Europe.

On trial at Nuremberg were brought the surviving Nazi government officials, and the most senior member, Hermann Göring, would escape his date with the hangman by a matter of hours. At the end of the trials, there were 11 men who were sentenced to death, including Wilhelm Keitel, the head of the German military high command, Joachim von Ribbentrop, the foreign minister, and also Julius Streicher, a close personal friend of Hitler, who had been a mouthpiece for the evil laws and policies of the Third Reich.

But the executions of the condemned Nazis did not go well inside of the execution chamber, and many have considered that they were botched and very undignified. So, why did the Nuremberg executions go so wrong? In the early hours of the 16th of October, 1946, 10 prominent members of the Nazi Party’s leadership were executed by hanging.

Some had been asked to be executed by firing squad, but the Allies decided to hang them on the gallows as common criminals. As mentioned, Hermann Göring dodged the execution hangman by hours. But the executed men were Joachim von Ribbentrop, Wilhelm Keitel, Ernst Kaltenbrunner, an SS official, Alfred Rosenberg, a chief Nazi theorist, Hans Frank, a man who put Poland to the sword, Wilhelm Frick, the Minister of the Interior, Julius Streicher, Fritz Sauckel, a slave labor chief, Alfred Jodl, a prominent general, and Arthur Seyss-Inquart, the

Chancellor of Austria. The executions began at 1:10 a.m., and one One one, the men were led into the execution chamber, Nuremberg prison’s gymnasium. There were three temporary gallows which were built in the gymnasium, and at one point, two Nazis were hanging at the end of the rope to speed up the proceedings.

But, things went bad straight away. Firstly, the wrong executioner may have been chosen to complete the job. The principal executioner, the hangman that day, was Master Sergeant John C. Woods of the United States Army. Woods had carried out a number of military executions during and after the war, but he was not professionally trained as a civilian executioner, like the British used.

Woods had a long history of botching things, and that is reality. When he hanged Dachau guards, things went wrong. But, when the American Army recruited for an executioner, Woods claimed he’d helped in executions, specifically in the states of Texas and Oklahoma. But, he was lying, and it has been found out that his claims were complete lies.

Texas and Oklahoma had abandoned hanging in favor of electrocution for the period in which Woods claimed to have gained his experience. He learned by performing military executions himself, rather than through a careful apprenticeship, which would have seen him working prior as an assistant. Britain, on the other hand, used experienced hangmen like Albert Pierrepoint.

But, the Americans ultimately oversaw Nuremberg prison, and they brought in Woods, who they saw as one of their own to carry out the job. But, he was nowhere near ready to carry out such high-profile executions using what was unfamiliar equipment. The experience of Woods was probably the biggest factor why the executions went wrong.

These were, let’s remember, the most high-profile executions of the 20th century. The Nuremberg trial had been shown all around the world in the press, but also the equipment that Woods was given might not have been up to scratch. A A hanging was supposed to break the neck or severely dislocate the upper neck.

The condemned person’s weight, physical build, and the length of the drop had to be considered. If the drop was too long, someone’s head could come off, and things would be even worse. If it was too short, the neck wouldn’t break, and someone would strangle to death. Woods used what was known as the American standard drop method, rather than the carefully calculated long drop system associated with, let’s say, British executioners.

According to reports, the drop distances were not sufficient to break every Nuremberg Nazi’s neck. Witnesses claimed that some of the men continued moving or breathing for several minutes. One man, Wilhelm Keitel, was certainly not killed quickly, and there were reports that he was even alive 20 minutes after being sent through the trapdoor.

Many of the death times were said to have been at least 10 to 15 minutes long, far too long compared to what was intended. The condemned might not have been conscious throughout the period, but it took that long for doctors to confirm that death had taken place, and many of the necks had clearly not been broken.

Also regarding the gallows, the trapdoors on them were too small. There was a spare gallows, and two were used at all times, but one of the most serious design problems was the size of that trapdoor. As a number of the prisoners fell through it, they struck the sides on the opening, and in some cases, the trapdoor didn’t latch, and it smashed the men in their faces.

Photographs of the corpses after showed that Wilhelm Keitel and Wilhelm Frick specifically were heavily bloodied, having experienced this, and blood was seen all around their faces. This may have been worse because of the way that the men were positioned by Woods. If they didn’t fall perfectly straight, or if they struggled, their head or face could strike the edges of the narrow opening.

Also, by hitting the sides of the trapdoor, it actually slowed down the drop, too, and the men lost velocity, affecting the force directed towards their neck. The gallows could have been also said to have been pretty much improvised, too. They were not inside a permanent execution chamber, instead a place where just days earlier American soldiers had actually played a basketball game.

The Allied authorities wanted the executions performed securely, privately, and quickly. They also wanted to prevent the bodies from becoming Nazi relics or the execution site from turning into a place of pilgrimage. These security concerns encouraged secrecy and speed. Although preparations were made and the equipment was apparently, allegedly, tested, the temporary setting was less controlled than a permanent execution facility operated by experienced specialists.

10 men had to be executed during the same early hours of the morning. The first hanging began shortly after 1:00 a.m. and the final execution was completed after 3:00. The two working gallows were used alternatively, so that one body could be examined and removed while the next prisoner was prepared. This production line arrangement did save time, but did place pressure on the execution team, too, meaning they could possibly have rushed things.

Now, let’s look specifically at probably the worst performed Nuremberg execution. The hanging of Julius Streicher produced the worst eyewitness accounts. Streicher was in no means a hero. He was the anti-Semitic editor of Der Stürmer, a pro-Nazi newspaper, and he went to the gallows kicking and screaming. He put up a fight and shouted slurs before issuing a final Heil Hitler salutes.

But as he went through the gallows, witnesses reported hearing Streicher groaning and moaning behind the black curtain that concealed his body at the bottom of the drop, and he was also kicking and swinging wildly. It was written by an eyewitness that, I quote, “At that instant the trap opened with a loud bang. He went down kicking. When the rope snapped taut with the body swinging wildly, groans could be heard from within the concealed interior of the scaffold.

Finally, the hangman, as in Woods, who had descended from the gallows platform, lifted the black canvas curtain and went inside. Something happened that put a stop to the groans and brought that rope to a standstill. After it was over, I was not in the mood to ask what he did, as I assumed that he grabbed the swinging body and pulled down on it.

We were all of the opinion that Striker had strangled.” So, let’s just play that back. John C. Woods had gone behind the gallows and actually pulled down on Striker’s body, strangling the life out of him, quite literally, bringing him to a abrupt end. Striker’s defiance could have displaced the knot, or Woods could have placed it badly, but nevertheless, the executioner undignified and, as brutal as it is, finished him off.

But, there have been allegations in the past few decades that the Nuremberg executions were actually deliberately botched by Woods. Some have theorized that he wanted to make the men, the condemned men, suffer, but this would have damaged the entire point of the Nuremberg trials, as they showed that legal justice was far more important than revenge.

Woods may have hated Nazis, and boy, did he admit it, but it doesn’t prove that he intentionally botched the executions. The American Army rejected these claims. Officials maintained that the prisoners had been properly executed. They also stated that the reports claiming that Wilhelm Keitel took more than 20 minutes to die didn’t prove that he was conscious and suffering during this time.

But, let’s face it, the facial injuries and witness descriptions, specifically of Keitel’s execution, make it very difficult to accept that everything went well with the Nuremberg executions. So, to conclude, the Nuremberg executions were poorly carried out for a number of reasons. The American Army trusted the wrong man, John Woods, to carry out the executions.

He had experience which was, let’s say, questionable, dodgy, I’d say. And the gallows equipment wasn’t suitable to bring death quickly. The execution squad may have also been rushed, too. And the pressure to execute the 10 Nazis quickly probably made the job much more difficult. There isn’t much evidence that the executions were deliberately botched, but John C.

Woods would later claim that he was very proud of the executions regardless. Strange, really. If I made a big mess on the biggest day of my career, I’d probably not be too proud about it, and I probably wouldn’t tell anyone. Anyway, thanks for watching. If you found this video interesting, maybe click subscribe. Once again, thank you so much for giving me your time to watch one of these videos.